Cake Decorating

I don't know how much fun you had today but I had tons of it.  I took a cake decorating class and loved every minute of it.

Okay, it's Dallas not Paris but nonetheless it was fabulous.  Of course being Dallas, you don't ever have to park your own car or carry anything out to your car.  I love it here.

There were about 30 of us and we each started out the same but when we left each cake was our own creation.  We started with a cake that had been frozen as it is easier to frost.  I did not know that.

We put on a crumb icing and then a glaze.

Then we used our imagination and our skill to decorate the cake. I learned to make a shell border, never having done it before.

Here is the finished cake.  After a couple of tries I could not make very pretty flowers so it is a pretty simple cake. I need to take another class.

If you are interested in cake baking and decorating I chose a few books you might be interested in.

Buddy the Cake Boss

Professional Cake Decorating

I thought these paper napkins would look great next to one of these gorgeous cakes.

Decorative Paper Napkins

Simply the best cake baking book ever.

Cake Bible

A beautiful cake stand to put your creation on.

Cake Stand

Enjoy and Bon Appetit

A Bientôt

Audrey

Skin care tips

Dr. Hauschka Products......Dr.Hauschka is a holistic skin care brand with a focus on natural ingredients.


Julia Roberts is the person to thank for the fact that a small natural cosmetics producer, Wala from Bad Boll at the foot of the Swabian Alb, has become a Hollywood society tip. The actress, plagued like many of her colleagues by stressed skin due to having to constantly apply and remove make-up, discovered Dr. Hauschkas Rose Cream in her make-up artist’s cosmetics case.

Dr. Hauschka Rose Cream Day

She swears by the cream because it stimulates the skin’s own resources and does not cause allergies. The special thing: Most of the medicinal plants used are not only grown under strict organic conditions in the company’s own garden, they are also processed according to an 80-year-old recipe which respects nature’s rhythm: light and dark, movement and rest, heat and cold.

The resulting essences and oils keep without preservatives being added. When Julia Roberts was asked, yet again, at a press conference what was behind her radiant complexion, she whispered into the microphone: ”Dr. Huschka.” And soon Cate Blanchett was bathing in Dr. Hauschka’s lavender bath oil, Madonna underwent a two-hour Dr. Hauschka treatment in the chic New York Sanctuary Spa, and the whole world wanted the rose cream. In Sephora, New York’s elegant perfume shop, it is to be found right next to Kiehl products.

(magazin-deutschland.de) copyright: frankfurter Societats-druckerei GmbH

Dr. Hauschka Lavender Bath

Dr. Hauschka has been in existence since 1967 and has gained an impressive celebrity following, including Julia Roberts, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz , Jack Nicholson, and me. 

Awakening Beauty Book the Dr. Hauschka Way

Dr. Hauschka's Eye Balm

Dr. Hauschka lemon body oil

This should get you started, I have been a fan for years, especially the eye balm and the lemon body oil.  I am always trying new Dr. Hauschka products and am never disappointed.

Happy and Healthy Living

A Bientôt

Audrey

Challenges

johicksflower.co.uk    (a very pretty picture)

This month we are talking about challenges.  I had to think long and hard about this one as I try hard to rid myself of any challenges as quickly as possible.

My challenges are small and easy to deal with.  Should I walk or should I drive, should I have dessert or be a good girl and skip it, should I stay home and work or go to a movie?  Even I think these challenges are silly so I am thinking what is, or was,  a serious challenge in my life and I guess it is life itself.  Trying to do all I can to live as long as I can as healthy as I can.

I am fussy about what I eat, preferring vegetarian cuisine to anything else.  I go to all my doctors at least once a year, maybe twice a year.  I have all the usual tests and then every five years the more difficult tests.  I am challenged to exercise more so this is definitely a goal this year.  

I love Nigel Slater and here is a link to his cookbook.  You will love it.

Nigel Slater

Living in France half the year limits the time I see my children and grandchildren.  I vow to change that as those times together are the best ever.  I was challenged to raise four children, many years as a single parent. I can proudly say, I did a good job.

I was challenged to trek in the Himalayas for a month but I did it and will live with the glory of having accomplished an amazing feat for a non athlete like me.

I am sitting in a luxury hotel in Paris and thinking "challenges".  I faced those years ago when I decided to get divorced and build a business which would take care of me for the rest of my life. 

Leadership means facing challenges head on.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes regarding challenges:

“The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.” 
― Molière 

“Happiness is not the absence of problems; it's the ability to deal with them.” 
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

“When you do what you love, the seemingly impossible becomes simply challenging, the laborious becomes purposeful resistance, the difficult loses its edge and is trampled by your progress.” 
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

Never confuse someone else's inability to do something with its inability to be done.  This has been my mantra and has pushed me to succeed many times.

And now I shall end with this quote. 

The biggest challenge after success is shutting up about it.” 
― Criss Jami

A Bientôt
Audrey

New York

I flew from Paris to New York and will be here a few days before going to Dallas.
The lovely 60 Soho Hotel (formerly Sixty Thompson) welcomed me wonderfully.

After a good nights sleep I had breakfast in the lovely dining room.

So then I braved the snow and took a walk.  What the heck am I doing out here??????

Couldn't resist Le Petit Cafe for a hot chocolate

A Bientôt my dear friends and family who might want to see what I am up to.